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SEA AIR SPACE 2024 — A recent Navy contract award may have extended the lifespan of Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet production for a couple more years, but after failing to find additional customers, the aerospace giant plans to close up shop on the legacy fighter after 2027, a Boeing executive tells Breaking Defense. “We ran a number of international campaigns or competitions that we were unsuccessful in previous years,” Mark Sears, Boeing vice president for fighters, said in an interview. “Those kind of played out and there are no active discussions with the Navy about additional F-18s beyond these.” Boeing...

An unmanned tanker drone successfully refueled a fighter jet in mid-air during a test flight on Friday. The impressive feat, which involved a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet, demonstrated the significant potential of unmanned tanker drones and could mark the beginning of the end for traditional piloted tanker aircraft. During the test flight, the drone - a Boeing-built device named MQ-25 Stingray - maintained its altitude and speed as the hose extended and the two aircraft briefly linked up to exchange fuel. The test was carried out from the MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois. In total, 325lbs of fuel...

"... In service with the Navy and Marine Corps since 1983, the flexible design has gone through a Porsche 911-like evolution. Two type series of the original Hornet, the A/B and C/D preceded the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, a larger more capable version of the F/A-18 introduced in 1999. Since then the Super Hornet has been updated with “Block II” models and now there’s a “Block III” Super Hornet....

Crews are searching for the pilot of a U.S. Navy fighter jet that crashed in Death Valley National Park, injuring seven people who were at a scenic overlook where aviation enthusiasts routinely watch military aircraft speeding low through a chasm dubbed Star Wars Canyon, officials said. A search was underway for the pilot of the single-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet that was on a routine training mission... The lookout point about 160 miles (257 kilometers) north of Los Angeles is popular with photographers and aviation buffs who gawk at jets flying in the steep, narrow canyon. Officials closed the area after...

Marines Identify Remains Recovered from KC-130J Salvage Operation By: Megan Eckstein June 26, 2019 10:08 AM The Marine Corps has identified the remains of three Marines recovered during a recent salvage operation to retrieve a KC-130J that crashed in December during a refueling mishap off of Japan. Five Marines assigned to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 152 were onboard the aircraft when it crashed last year, and all were killed. The Marine Corps conducted a salvage effort that spanned May 27 to June 7, and during that effort the remains of three of the Marines were found. After sending...

“The aircraft involved in the mishap had launched from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and were conducting regularly scheduled training when the mishap occurred.” A total of seven personnel were believed to be on board the two aircraft, according to ABC News’ Elizabeth McLaughlin. No further information was yet known on exactly how many service members were aboard the two aircraft at the time or what their current status is.

Germany’s Air Force chief “will likely be fired” if he “says ‘F-35’ again,” a local defense expert reports as debate about the Luftwaffe’s next-generation fighter jet grows in German military circles. The news comes amid reports that the German Air Force (the Luftwaffe) is mulling replacement options for its aging Panavia Tornado jets. The Tornado, designed and brought to service during the Cold War, fails to meet the requirements of modern warfare. Finding suitable options has, however, proved difficult. (Please see link for full article)

Boeing Is Pitching the US a New F-15, Using Its Super Hornet Game Plan The company convinced the Trump administration to buy advanced F/A-18 jets. Can it do the same with the the F-15? FARNBOROUGH, UK — Boeing is quietly pitching the U.S. Air Force a new F-15 fighter jet using the same business strategy that convinced the Trump administration to buy more Super Hornet warplanes for the Navy. Dubbed the F-15X, the new variant of the venerable jet offers more modern flight controls, cockpit displays, and radar, according to military and industry sources with knowledge of the plan. The...

BERLIN: Germany will pick either the Eurofighter or Boeing's F/A-18 fighter jet to replace its Tornado warplanes, knocking Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth fighter out of a tender worth billions of euros, Defence Ministry sources said on Thursday (Jan 31). The ministry will make a final decision after receiving detailed information from Boeing and Airbus about the aircraft, which must be able to carry US nuclear weapons to fulfill Germany's obligations to NATO, the sources said. No timetable for a decision was given, but the process could take time since the US government will have to certify both jets to carry...

VFA-34's "CAG-bird" F/A-18C launches from Carl Vinson during the last cruise by an active-duty F/A-18C squadron in 2018. (photo: U.S. Navy) On February 1, the U.S. Navy is holding a special ceremony to commemorate the passing of one of its stalwarts, as the Boeing (previously McDonnell Douglas) F/A-18C Hornet leaves the active-duty fleet. Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 34 “Blue Blasters” was the last unit operating the type in the front line and flew the “legacy” Hornet on its final operational deployment, a cruise with Air Wing Two to the Western Pacific theater aboard the USS Carl Vinson. That deployment ended...

One of the strangest sagas in defense procurement over the last decade has been Canada's meandering road to a new fighter aircraft to replace, or even augment, the country's relatively small fleet of aging CF-18 Hornets. We have talked in great depth about this issue, and although the Super Hornet is clearly the right jet for Canada, a recent trade spat has made it politically unsavory for the Trudeau Administration to order even a handful of the strike fighters as a interim measure before selecting a fighter to replace the entire CF-18 fleet sometime in the future. In the meantime,...

The F/A-18XT is the designation for the Advanced Super Hornet, which is the Block III fighter jet concept for the Navy. (Photo courtesy Boeing) President Donald Trump on Friday announced he’s considering a “big order” of advanced Super Hornet fighter jets designated F/A-18XT and made by Boeing Co. “We are looking seriously at a big order,” he told the audience at Boeing’s South Carolina facility during the unveiling of the company’s 787 Dreamliner. “Do you care if we use the F-18 Super Hornets?” The comments came less than a month after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis ordered a review of the...

OTTAWA — The Liberal government is intent on buying Super Hornet fighter jets, according to multiple sources. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet reportedly discussed the issue last week, and while no formal decision was taken, one top-level official said: “They have made up their minds and are working on the right narrative to support it.” Rather than a full replacement of the air force’s aging CF-18 fighter fleet, it’s believed the purchase will be labelled an interim measure to fill what Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has warned is a pending “gap” in Canada’s military capabilities. The Liberals promised during the...

Advanced derivatives of the tri-service Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter could replace the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor, Boeing F-15C Eagle and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, multiple sources told the National Interest. However, they added that the idea of replacing the high flying and fast Raptor with the slower and less agile F-35 was not well received by many within the Air Force. “No doubt that the F-35 will be doing air dominance missions in the future,” one industry official said. “Especially with more internal air-to-air, and maybe a new engine.”

Man, Boeing (NYSE:BA) just cannot catch a break. For a while there, 2015 was starting to look like the year Boeing defense got its wings back. In February, opining that "stealth may be overrated," U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert began laying the groundwork for the U.S. Navy breaking up with Lockheed Martin's F-35C fighter jet, and buying a bunch of Boeing F/A-18s for its carriers instead. Earlier this month, the Air Force floated a trial balloon of its own. In a controversial revelation, the Air Force suggested it was considering buying as many as six dozen cheaper...

Did You Know that American advanced F-14 Tom Cat Fighter Jets, helped to keep Ayatollah Khomeini in Power during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s? When Iran was under the pro-American Shah of Iran, America sold 79 F-14 Tom Cats to Iran in 1974-1978. The world's most experienced combat pilots in the F-14 are Iranians. According to Wikipedia: "...In 1980, an Iranian F-14 shot down an Iraqi Mil Mi-25 helicopter for its first air-to-air kill during the Iran–Iraq War. According to research by Tom Cooper, within the first six months of the war Iranian F-14s scored over 50 air-to-air victories,...

America’s $400 billion, top-of-the-line aircraft can’t see the battlefield all that well. Which means it’s actually worse than its predecessors at fighting today’s wars. When the Pentagon’s nearly $400 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter finally enters service next year after nearly two decades in development, it won’t be able to support troops on the ground the way older planes can today. Its sensors won’t be able to see the battlefield as well; and what video the F-35 does capture, it won’t be able to transmit to infantrymen in real time. Versions of the new single-engine stealth fighter are set to...

Advanced Super Hornet Demonstrates Significant Stealth, Range Improvements - Tests prove aircraft will outpace future threats ST. LOUIS, Aug. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- During three weeks of flight testing the Advanced Super Hornet, Boeing [NYSE: BA] and partner Northrop Grumman demonstrated that the fighter can outperform threats for decades to come with improvements that make the jet much harder for radar to detect and give it significantly more combat range. Through 21 flights in St. Louis and Patuxent River, Md., that began Aug. 5, the team tested conformal fuel tanks (CFT), an enclosed weapons pod (EWP), and signature enhancements, each...

Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet flies with CFTs and weapons pod Boeing has released this photo of a US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet in the air equipped with conformal fuel tanks and a weapons pod near Saint Louis, Missouri. The hardware is not functional, but is designed to test the aerodynamic qualities of the tanks and pod. Some advanced low-observables treatments are also expected to be tested on the jet which is being leased by the company for the trials. - See more at: http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2013/08/boeing-fa-18f-super-hornet-flies-with-cfts-and-weapons-pod/#sthash.v2GS3o58.dpuf

Editors Note: Every airplane that goes into service is accompanied by controversy. This is especially true of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Our two experts argue that the Super Hornet is not necessarily the airplane the Navy needs for the future, and their backgrounds lend weight to their arguments. Rear Admiral Paul Gillcrist U.S. Navy (Ret.) spent 33 years as a fighter jet pilot and wing commander and was operations commander for all Pacific Fleet fighters. Bob Kress is an aeronautical engineer and, during his long career at Grumman, he was directly involved in the development of the F-14 Tomcat. Their ...